Medicinal tablets are produced in a variety of shapes, sizes and varying degrees of hardness, depending on the constituents included. Since the needs of individual patients may vary and it is expensive to produce and market a particular medicine in a variety of sizes to facilitate convenient prescription thereof to suit individual needs, it is common practice to produce relatively large tablets that may be broken into fractions thereof to suit a user's specific needs. Thus, a production facility may produce relatively large and hard tablets, avoiding waste due to breakage of the tablets during manufacture and the need for complex machinery to produce more numerous smaller tablets. By breaking such relatively large tablets into smaller parts a patient can conveniently and closely follow the medical regimen prescribed by his doctor.
Many medicinal tablets generally have an elongate, oblong or elliptical shape, with the center usually thicker than the outside. Some individuals have problems swallowing such tablets even when the amount of medication contained in each tablet is precisely what they should take. For such persons too, as will be appreciated, the facility to break a tablet into smaller pieces is helpful. For this reason, most large medicinal tablets are produced with generally central weakened cross-sections, preferably by forming them with a central stress-raising notch having sloping sides.
There are, in fact, a number of devices intended to accomplish the particular purpose to which the present invention relates.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,802, to Stevens, provides a raised ridge built into the cap of a tablet container, or provided as part of an insert locatable therewithin, so that the user must carefully locate the tablet with the score mark uppermost on the ridge and then press on both sides of the tablet hard enough to break the tablet. In an alternative embodiment, a concave arcuate apex-type structure is formed on either the cap or the insert locatable therewithin and, here again, the user must carefully position the tablet thereover and press hard at the center to break the tablet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,192, to Urban et al, teaches a tablet breaking device in which a tablet is held in a notch having a generally tapered cross-section (to accommodate tablets of varying sizes) and must be carefully positioned so that one of its tranverse surfaces presses along an edge, whereafter a hinged lid is forcibly pressed on the topmost portion of the tablet to break the same, with the topmost broken-off piece falling into a recess to receive the same. In a variation on this theme, U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,843, also to Urban et al, discloses a somewhat similar structure in which a tablet is laid over a sharp edge with one side held down by the structure integral with the sharp edge, with a mechanical force applied to the topmost edge of the tablet to break the same over the sharp edge.
Design U.S. Pat. No. 196,457 to Wagner discloses, obviously without any discussion of its utilitarian aspects, a container closure that has a pyramidal central portion having two sloping sides, with one of the sides provided with a relatively shallow elongate recess for purposes unknown.
Various other devices are known in which a sharp edge or two sharp edges are forced against a pill to exercise a cutting action thereon, such examples including U.S. Pat. No. 2,655,259 to Davoren, U.S. Pat. No. 4,330,936 to Swarth and U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,553 to Hoeks et al.
Tablet or pill cutting devices that utilize sharp edges contacting the tablet and elastic elements partially resisting an externally applied force to produce breakage over the sharp edge include, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,173,826 to Leopoldi et al, 3,517,871 to Gaffney et al and 4,225,072 to Reeves.
Other known devices referred to hereinabove involve relatively complex structure, sharp edges, and inconvenient operation in use. Many patients who frequently have to break tablets to take them include elderly persons with shaky hands and not much strength. For such persons in particular, most of the known devices are not convenient to use.
A need, therefore, exists for simple, inexpensive and easy to use apparatus that will enable even a relatively infirm user of tablets to break individual tablets by the application of a simple direct force applied by his or her finger to the side of a tablet to break the same, preferably at a score mark if one is provided on the tablet. The present invention provides different embodiments that are regarded as particularly suitable for incorporation with standardized tablet bottle caps or lids at an almost negligible additional expense.